ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 8, 1996 TAG: 9603080046
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: Out & About
SOURCE: DONNA ALVIS BANKS
"A soldier has a hard life, and but little consideration." - Gen. Robert E. Lee
Confederate soldiers on the march ate salt pork and hard biscuits called hardtack. Because shoes were in short supply, many of them went barefoot.
They wore uniforms made of "shoddy," a rewoven wool that often fell apart when the rains came.
"A hard life," as Gen. Robert E. Lee wrote to his wife, was the Southern soldiers' lot.
This weekend, you can see firsthand how the soldiers in gray answered their call of duty. A Confederate winter camp, set up on the grounds of the Wilderness Road Regional Museum in Newbern, will be held Saturday and Sunday. The 2nd Virginia Cavalry, Stuart's Horse Artillery, will demonstrate training and artillery.
The infantrymen will explain cannon-loading procedures and show the kinds of firearms and horse equipment used during the Civil War. They'll also be on hand to talk about enlistment of re-enactors.
Other activities at the museum this weekend include visits with local authors. Munsey Webb of Galax and Patricia Givens Johnson of Blacksburg will sign copies of their local history books. The museum gift shop has copies of their books, as well as other works by regional authors.
On Sunday, the museum will serve up a meal of baked potatoes with fixings, ham, bean salad, pickles, bread, dessert and a drink. The meal will be served from noon to 4 p.m., and the cost is only $4.50. Take-out plates will be available, too.
"Heritage Highlights of the New River Valley" is the current museum display. Admission is free.
Hours this weekend are 10:30 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday and noon to 4:30 p.m. Sunday. To get to the site from Interstate 81, take Exit 98 in Pulaski County and follow the museum signs.
HEAD, HEART, HANDS AND HEALTH: That's what the four H's stand for in 4-H.
Youths in the Montgomery County 4-H program will show you what they've been up to Sunday at 3 p.m. in the Auburn High School Auditorium. The kids will ham it up at their "Share-the-Fun Show," a variety show featuring drama, dance, music and song.
Valerie Myers, show coordinator, promises an afternoon of family fun. It's open to everyone and it's free.
BLUES - KENTUCKY STYLE: When he was growing up in Pike County, Ky., Rodney Hatfield used to tuck his transistor radio under his pillow at night and listen to the blues.
Now Hatfield is singing and playing harmonica for his own band, The Metropolitan Blues All-Stars. He and his fellow bandsmen have developed a unique style that's known by their followers as "Met Blues."
Take your mellow Southern blues, fire it up with some rollicking Chicago blues, add a dash of rock-a-billy and you'll get the idea. In addition to their original tunes, the All-Stars play covers by biggies Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, Junior Parker, Doc Watson and others.
The All-Stars will perform tonight and Saturday at the Cafe at Champs in Blacksburg. The show includes songs from the group's latest CD, "Hillbilly Nation." Check out Hatfield's harmonica playing on "River of Blues," a soulful spiritual from the new album.
The cover charge tonight and Saturday is $5. The music starts at 9 at the cafe, 111 N. Main St.
FROM DUBLIN ... The poet Synge was right.
"There is no language like Irish for soothing and quieting."
Folk singer Frank Emerson, a Dublin (Ireland, not Virginia) native, will bring his 12-string guitar and his melodious voice to Maxwell's lounge this weekend.
Emerson, who now lives in Wytheville (yes, Virginia), has produced five albums. In addition to Celtic music, he performs American, Canadian, Australian and British folk songs.
You can hear his smooth baritone and see his smiling Irish eyes tonight and Saturday, starting at 9. Maxwell's is at 1204 N. Main St. in Blacksburg. A $4 cover admits you to the lounge.
STRANGER THAN FICTION: March is the month for classic sci-fi and foreign films at the Lyric Theatre in downtown Blacksburg. The Lyric Council has some movies that will set you in orbit!
This weekend's feature is "Forbidden Planet," a 1956 film about a space expedition that discovers the sole survivors of an earlier trek. Walter Pidgeon and Anne Francis star as the survivors now living amidst the remains of an advanced civilization whose inhabitants vanished centuries earlier.
Upcoming films include "Brazil," a 1985 film about a futuristic society where a man's life is suddenly altered because of a computer typo. "Brazil" shows March 15 and 16.
On March 23 and 24, you can catch "The Postman," a new Italian film that received three Oscar nominations this year. "Farewell, My Concubine" is the feature on March 29 and 30. It's a spectacular Chinese film set in the colorful world of the Peking Opera.
The movies are shown each Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $3 at the box office.
LENGTH: Medium: 97 linesby CNB